Ernst Lehner: THE LETTERHEAD: HISTORY AND PROGRESS. New York: Museum Books, Inc, 1955. First edition. Folio. Decorated paper covered boards with black quarter cloth titled in gilt over wire spiral binding. Laid endpapers. [iv + 60] pp. + 55 Letterhead Samples. Multiple paper stocks and a wide variety of press and finishing effects on display. Cover designed by Ronald Clyne. Former owners publishing letter head attached to rear endpaper. Boards lightly soiled and edgeworn. First couple of leaves faintly spotted. Textblock in fine, bright condition. Silver lettering to black cloth spine lightly rubbed. Because of this books’ design/production values, I must assume it was produced in a very limited edition. The production methodology also virtually guarantees that few copies survived in original condition. A very good to nearly fine copy. Rare in this condition.
The former owner Woodrow “Woody” Gelman neatly attached a sheet of printed letterhead for his Nostalgia Press to rear endpaper. Pretty cool in its own charming way. Gelman was a publisher, cartoonist, novelist and an artist-writer for both animation and comic books. As the publisher of Nostalgia Press, he pioneered the reprinting of vintage comic strips in quality hardcovers and trade paperbacks. As an editor and art director for two-and-a-half decades at Topps Chewing Gum, he introduced many innovations in trading cards and humor products. Gelman was the co-creator of Popsicle Pete and the co-creator of Bazooka Joe for Topps. He was also a co-creator of the legendary Mars Attacks gum cards.
9.25 x 12.25 book with 64 pages of frontis material printed in two colors, followed by 55 pages of 8.5 x 11 letterhead pages printed on 9 x 12 sheets in order to show bleeds with all technical and paper specifications printed in the trim areas. These original sheets of letterhead were printed especially for this volume on the paper originally specified by the designers and typographers.
Every possible printing effect is utilized for maximum impact, including engraving, letterpress, embossing, debossing, thermography, silk-screening and so much more. Each sheet of letterhead was printed in its country of origin (Dick Elffers work printed in Holland, Ashley Havinden in England, etc) and collated in New York City for this exceptional volume.
This book functions as a spiral-bound portfolio of contemporary letterhead design (circa 1955) by leading designers of the day such as Ladislav Sutnar, Lou Dorfsman, Matthew Leibowitz, Gene Federico, Dick Elffers, Ashley Havinden and others. The clients represented in The Letterhead include a nice cross-section of the international creative community represented by design, typography, printing, architecture, photography, industrial design and more.
This is one of the coolest Graphic Design Books I have ever seen. Needless to say, this book earns my absolute highest recommendation.
Contents
An exceptional vintage document with an all-star cast of contributors who did not limit themselves to the design of letterheads, regularly facing the problem of creating “81/2 x 11 personalities" for great American companies.
Please visit my Ebay store for an excellent and ever-changing selection of rare and out-of-print design books and periodicals covering all aspects of 20th-century visual culture.
I offer shipping discounts for multiple purchases. Please contact me for details.
Payment due within 3 days of purchase.